What a Difference a DOH Closing Makes: Bubby’s and Serendipity AreWith the rat-infested Taco Bell on Sixth Avenue becoming a T-Mobile store, it’s only right to remind ourselves that a high-profile DOH closing isn’t necessarily the kiss of death. The department recently returned to Bubby’s and gave it a respectable score of six and gave Serendipity 3 an even closer to perfect score of four. Apparently the only thing infesting the places at present is celebrities — we’ve heard that Hilary Swank, Robert De Niro, Susan Sarandon, James Gandolfini, Lou Reed, and Val Kilmer have all stopped into Bubby’s in the past couple of days. Hey, if it’s good enough for them…
Update: The Box, at one point the city’s most demerited restaurant, has also cleaned up its act with a recent score of just seven. How very conformist!
Restaurant Inspection Information: Bubby’s
Restaurant Inspection Information: Serendipity
Earlier: Bubby’s DOH Report: Closed Due to Biblical Swarm of Rats and Roaches
Serendipity 3 to Bounce Back by The Weekend
Mediavore
Bobby Flay Enters the Burger Game; Serendipity 3 ReopensBobby Flay is entering the upscale-burger game with a chain of restaurants called Bobby’s Burger Palace. [GlobeSt.com via A Hamburger Today]
Gossip Girl fanatics will be happy to know that Gilt has added Serena’s much-beloved grilled cheese with truffle oil to the bar menu. Only $50! [Zagat]
Related: Is ‘Gossip Girl’ the Most Restauranty Show Since ‘Sex and the City’?
The Times says the entrée is on its way out at restaurants all over the country, thanks to a loss of interest in “big, protein-laden main dishes.” [NYT]
Neighborhood Watch
Eight-Cent Falafels Worth Every Penny in the East Village; Chris Lee Has aCobble Hill: Sahadi’s might have a fancy new sign to flaunt at Trader Joe’s, but are they cutting corners to compete? The Brooklyn Paper reports that customers are “fuming that the grocer has replaced the classic glass jars with generic plastic containers in the nuts, dried fruits and candies section.” [Brooklyn Heights Blog]
East Village: Next Friday, Tasty Falafel on St. Marks Place will sell sandwiches for 8 cents each from 4 to 9 p.m. and host a falafel-eating contest at 6. [Gridskipper]
Lower East Side: A new wine bar is on the way, and Gino and Guido are now accepting applications in the TRE space at 173 Ludlow. [Eat for Victory/VV]
Midtown East: Gilt has announced that chef Chris Lee has spent $8,000 on a 1.51-pound white truffle, which is “significantly larger than the truffle that Sirio Maccioni of Le Cirque won in a highly publicized October bidding.” We wonder what GM Elli Jafari thinks about that tougher tuber. [Bottomless Dish/Citysearch]
Upper East Side: Serendipity 3 has pushed back its reopening from tonight to December 5, after being closed by the DOH. [Eater]
NewsFeed
Serendipity 3 to Bounce Back by the WeekendWe’re being told that Serendipity 3, home to the most expensive dessert in the world (and also 100 cockroaches!) will reopen at the end of the week, probably closer to the weekend. In the meantime we leave you with these words from former New York critic Hal Rubenstein’s review of the place: “3 has one chilly bowl of magnificence that would render the place a must-visit if it was served atop a Dumpster.” A suddenly comforting thought, no?
Earlier: Serendipity: Images From the Battlefield
Mediavore
Chefs Bored With Food, Move to Clothes; Pricey Plates and Polygamy Just GoWondering who actually orders $1,000 bagel or a $28,000 bejeweled sundae? Serendipity 3 owner Stephen Bruce “wouldn’t be surprised if soon we get a call from a Middle Eastern prince or Shah willing to give something sweet to his many wives on his next trip to the city.” [News.Com.Au]
Related: Have White Truffles Finally Gone Too Far?
Breaking: Serendipity 3 Closed by DOH
Since chefs, mixologists, and their restaurants are the newest breed of celebrity, it’s about time they started designing clothes. Get dressed at Freemans, Death & Co., and PDT. [Mouthing Off/Food&Wine]
Restaurateur Jimmy Bradley on the source of his managing prowess: “The Art of War by Sun Tzu taught me many leadership and organizational lessons.” [Diner’s Journal/NYT]
NewsFeed
Serendipity: Images From the Battlefield
So they’re not the best pictures—but did you really want to see close-ups of mice poo? (Don’t answer that.) Nevertheless, a sad scene. Between the Broadway strike and this latest development, the holidays are headed towards a touristy triage.
Earlier: Breaking: Serendipity 3 Closed by DOH
NewsFeed
Breaking: Serendipity 3 Closed by DOHEater has rumblings, and our trusty Channel 4 has just confirmed that Serendipity 3, that Upper East Side bastion of desserts and diabetes, has been shut down by the Department of Health. Let’s hope it’s because of some anal plumbing violation and not, y’know, because there are rodents near the Frozen Hot Chocolate.
BREAKING: Serendipty Shut Down By The Department of Health? [Eater]
Update With Bonus Vomit: “In last night’s inspection, the inspector observed a live mouse, mouse droppings in multiple areas of the restaurant, fruit flies, house flies, over 100 live cockroaches.” Holy mother.
